Herbal Medicines Gain Acceptance

4/2/2012 2:15PM

There's growing acceptance that herbal medicines could be effective for medical conditions, but the scientific evidence to vault such a treatment into an approved drug is often lacking. As Shirley Wang explains on Lunch Break, researchers are making progress on a cancer treatment based on a common herbal combination in Chinese medicine.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... more herbal in traditional Chinese frenemies containing growing acceptance in the medical community ... as a treatment people with cancer shoveling right here beside me ... she's been tells about I cannot pronounce this ... herb so hard to comedy is a herb cocktail almost tells about that it's for her I'm not sharing that they either pay something like punching time and is otherwise known as Keech by nine and six ... I remember that ... but this is it's it's a combination of herbs is actually ... on getting legitimate trials and studies on ... humans now it's good for this were to be in the laboratory with animals ... for colon cancer walk us through that ... straight to the tothe for a combination that ... scientists are looking to see if it will help with the side effect Pacific chemotherapy which are ... diary and not via vomiting and right now ... a paramedic to the market but scientists say they found another perspective and they also ... several different ones are needed so you can figure out a better way of treating the side effect ... of chemotherapy than people can actually tensely to get a higher dose of chemotherapy better after that you cannot if they're ... they're camped there ... because they can tolerate marking out there and that is the side effects are just just on a leave so much ... I wonder what the skepticism is in the middle communing with me I was saying earlier that ... on three reporting new-found he said students are gaining more acceptance but that's a hat that's been a long rocky protests at ... the table and I think possible that there are tons and tons of ... herbal herbal supplement of better ... terms the defence that they're actually ... I'm using consider dietary supplements are not likely but the FDA ... the interesting thing at this combination is that they are actively ... doing all the rigorous testing involved that you would do it any other kind of truck ... and the difference is that ... there are to be tested sixty two different active ingredient in this for combinations that very complex and so didn't want us to think that that actually work thing ... is actually safe and sound in it there's actually something that to get her but it didn't have the prescription medication and haven't won her head of the main factor to me when you go to manufacture something like this ... you have to have a system in place when you can get the exact same amount ... of ingredients it's working is set to compete in each doses have been much talk for ... a fact that it's one of the huge problems with her bowls of it ... and ensuring that from the Barry plant bases to getting the same play and ... I'm nutrients from from batch to batch inside this particular case ... the science is actually ... on tested at variability between differing factions of the manufacture ... of a supply that already made this product for a different market in the town it wasn't good enough that they actually treated ... their own aam company to work with their own suppliers to figure out ... how to control the ... on road conditions the fertilize is big news and also how we extract ... the chemical so that the cop that products can be trustworthy and and the second batch to batch ... does this work was just a backup for one second one moment what was their hope in the medical community ... on that herbal remedies ... can bring what is to offer over the certain ones we are making in the last minute the black ones are so successful ... why are we bothering with the herbal remedies can book a throwback surely rate will begin with a lot of what actually is made of glass and came originally from plant in the sense that the idea came from a plant so ... um you know I aspirin originally people ... thought if Youtube Boulevard it seems to have some effect and so they've actually I pleaded the chemical ... Gribble manufactured in the lab ... became the product ... of what they're stranded you ... here in look at the complexity of the planned stay ... here there's ... a number of combinations maybe not know that the ingredients are ... but the combination seems to work I could have ... multiple on multiple benefits will total wealth of the facts though a ... are ... often on me how the drug ... it's on ... it's are targeting one different aspect of the body and is one of the seventeenth ... of ... May and it could be the case that there are multiple benefits and silly with this that with chemotherapy treatment rate now ... that I see it there just one ... compound that can be useful for all the benefits rather than having to cough all ... add Mexicana oak tree ... to tree to that effect and people tend to want to grant it were something they think is natural ... anyway all the hype when you've got sick maybe you don't maybe you wanna bet that there seems to be an appetite at least in the marketplace for people to ... do is consider this ... I think absolutely love people like it like is that it is my actual but also ... signs that say that in a plan for the ball so that they can protect themselves and so ... they are actually quite good about writing off ... of me know bonds or other times or conditions so that we can learn from that